With a successful first quarter behind us, I wanted to take a moment to update you on a number of fronts regarding Connie’s campaign for the U.S. Senate and our continued success and momentum

1) Public Polling

Public polling this quarter shows Connie as the only Republican candidate with a lead over Senator Bill Nelson.

As important, virtually every poll shows Nelson well under 50%. It’s astonishing that a two-term U.S. Senator continues to show such weakness. On the other hand, with the incredible unpopularity of the failed liberal policies that he and President Obama continue to champion and defend, it makes perfect sense that Floridians are saying enough is enough.

2) Our Own Internal Polls

When Connie jumped into the Senate race last fall, our own internal polling (conducted by Arthur J. Finkelstein) showed Connie leading by 20.3 percent.

Three weeks ago Arthur conducted another statewide survey of likely Republican Voters. This poll showed Connie’s commanding lead growing even stronger, and he now is ahead of George by 28.5 percent.

As significant, this latest poll was conducted three weeks after George launched his now infamously disgusting (and proven false) negative personal attacks against Connie. Without a doubt, the people of Florida are continuing to galvanize around Connie as we remain focused on the issues that matter, and they are rejecting George LeMieux’s politics of personal destruction. In fact, in a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, George’s negatives have grown substantially and are now three times larger than his positives.

3) Speaking of George’s False Attacks…

Politifact, an independent effort by the media to gauge the truthfulness of the things candidates say, has taken a good hard look at George’s attacks against Connie. On the 3 separate occasions they reviewed different claims in the ads, Politifact showed George was lying.

There’s an old political adage about desperate candidates saying and doing desperate things. Looking at the polls, and looking at George’s own tactics, never has that adage been more spot on.

4) Fundraising

We had a fantastic first quarter of fundraising. After having raised $750,000 in the 4th Quarter of 2011, I am pleased to announce that in the 1st Quarter of 2012 we raised just over $1 million dollars. We now have in excess of $1.3 million cash on hand.

A few interesting facts about our Q1 Fundraising:

Approximately 80 percent of the money we raised came from roughly 2,100 donors in Florida.

Approximately $170,000 came from online donations

Around 80 percent of the money we raised came after George LeMieux launched his negative personal attacks. (Just one more proof point that George has cooked his own goose…)

We owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the 52 dedicated people around Florida who are part of Connie’s Statewide Finance Committee. From Jorge L. Arrizurieta and Marty Fiorentino, to Joe Fogg, Francis Rooney, Stephen Diaco, Steven Kirchof and everyone else who is working so hard on Connie’s behalf, thank you for your tireless efforts. We couldn’t do this without you.

5) Conclusion

There’s plenty more I could update you about, including the growing grassroots support for Connie, his energetic crisscrossing around the state, the launch of his Keystone XL Pipeline petition and more.

Senator Nelson has never been more vulnerable. Victory will be ours.

Thanks for your friendship, your help, and your support.

As always, we’ll be sure to keep you updated from the trail in the weeks and months ahead.